DUBBED ‘Ice Station Zebra’ because it is reputedly the chilliest ground in the whole Football League, Everton’s last trip to Boundary Park in the FA Cup certainly left the Blues feeling cold.

Back in 1990, it took five-and-a-half hours of football, played over three games across three weeks to finally split the sides but it was Second Division Oldham who eventually triumphed.

To make things worse, the Latics were managed by former Everton hero Joe Royle while their winning goal came from another Goodison Park old boy, Ian Marshall.

One player who was to join up again with Royle when he returned to Goodison but was in the Oldham side when they defeated the Blues was Earl Barrett.

The Rochdale-born defender, now 45, remembers the incredible period for the Latics when top flight sides were routinely despatched by Royle’s supposed minnows.

He said: “We’d built up the momentum, a real head of steam, and it was hard to shake us.

“It had taken a couple of seasons but we’d all grown-up together and we weren’t afraid of playing any of the big sides.

“Joe had cherry-picked a number of players who he felt would fit into our style for £10,000 or £20,000 here and there and turned them into top performers. It got to the stage by the end of that season that nobody would sell anyone cheap to us anymore because they knew the gaffer was going to mould and shape them into great players.

“I remember it was a big call for me leaving a massive club like Manchester City to join Oldham but it was the best decision I ever made in football as it enabled me to progress.”

The Blues weren’t the first top flight opponents to be dumped out of a domestic cup competition in Oldham that season – nor were they the last.

At least it took Royle’s men three games to see them off which is more can be said for League Champions Arsenal who were vanquished 3-1 at Boundary Park in the League Cup on November 22 1989.

Southampton were also knocked out 2-0 on January 31 as the Latics made it all the way to Wembley before being beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest in the final for what proved to be Brian Clough’s last major piece of silverware.

Barrett said: “We were inspired by playing the likes of Everton.

“They were a massive club who’d been on great cup runs but we were on the crest of a wave.

“The 1989/90 campaign is now referred to as the ‘pinch me’ season at Boundary Park. There were so many great cup games for us that year that I don’t remember too many individual moments too well but I have got a fantastic picture of me out-jumping Graeme Sharp which I e-mailed to Sharpy!”

While a trip to Boundary Park was one of the least desirable away-days on a travelling fan’s calendar, on the day the Blues went to Oldham for their initial FA Cup fifth round tie on February 17 1990, Merseyside football supporters were greeted on the back page of the ECHO with news of plans for a £125million all-seater super stadium on Kirkby Golf Course to be shared by Everton and Liverpool.

However, the plan for the 200-acre development near Junction 6 of the M57, drawn up by a company called Stadium Mersey Ltd and backed in principle by Liverpool City Council, was met with a cool response from officials at both clubs and now, almost a quarter-of-a-century on, they’re still playing at Goodison and Anfield.

More immediate matters saw Everton race into a 2-0 half-time lead at Boundary Park thanks to two goals in the space of five minutes from Tony Cottee (21) and Graeme Sharp (26).

The Latics were handed a lifeline 11 minutes after the restart when according to the ECHO’s Ian Hargraves, Roger Palmer “merely fell over Neville Southall” but London referee Tony Ward pointed to the penalty spot and Andy Ritchie converted his 25th goal of the season.

Oldham then forced a Goodison replay as Palmer headed in a Rick Holden cross on 66 minutes.

The return game on Merseyside was a bad-tempered affair with match official Ward again incurring Evertonians’ wrath by sending off Norman Whiteside.

Hargraves said: “At times the game threatened to degenerate into a running battle with Oldham players going down so frequently from real and imagined challenges that nearly 10 minutes injury time had to be added on.”

Marshall finally broke the deadlock for the visitors 11 minutes into extra-time but Everton forced the tie into a third game when Kevin Sheedy dispatched a penalty five minutes from the end of extra-time.

For the second replay, Oldham moved Marshall from centre-back to centre-forward as Royle adopted a bold 3-4-3 formation but the cavalier approach worked with Latics edging through 2-1 – again after extra-time – with Cottee’s 13th-minute opener being cancelled out by Palmer’s toe-poke past Southall from an under-hit Neil McDonald back pass before Marshall spot-kick finally sealed the tie on 93 minutes.

Barrett said: “Joe picked teams to go out and win, we were very progressive and offensive.

“We had pace at the back so we could afford to really go for it and our audacity caught teams cold.”